Prospect Info: 17-18 Blues Top Prospect #3

[Halak Ness Monster]

Interesting to see how much of an after-thought Jordan Schmaltz has seemingly become. He didn't exactly light the world on fire with his NHL debut, but he's still young and has top-4 potential. Did he falter so much last year as to now be discussed as perhaps the 8-10th best prospect in the organization?

A lot has to do with prospect fatigue. He has been in our system for over 5 years. Blues 1st round picks of the last 10 years or so have either become NHLers or traded by now. We aren't used to waiting so long. Ian Cole is the closest comparison and he had played over 50 NHL games over 2 years by this point.

Statistically, Schmaltz is doing very well. He paced for a 49 point season in the AHL(based on 82 games). He improved his point production every year in college and he improved from his first to second AHL season. He was drafted for offensive skill and there has been no disappointment on the offensive side.

There's also the question of his defense. His offensive game is NHL ready. I don't think there is much doubt about that. The question then becomes defense. The thought creeps in that Schmaltz's defensive game must really be lacking in the eyes of the Blues front office if he can't get more than a cup of coffee when injuries hit. Like, he should be playing over someone like Gunnarsson or Bortuzzo with the numbers he is putting up. On the flip side, though, we have had enough puck movers in Petro, Parayko, and Shatty that the focus should have been on defense in the rest of the D unit. Schmaltz may be fine defensively but you know he'll have the learning period and we just couldn't afford to experience that late last year and into the playoffs.

To me Schmaltz is still a high quality prospect. Dunn is the only one that has really passed him for sure in my opinion. Barbeshev, too, but to a lesser extent. A guy like Walman just has age on his side so there's hope that he will improve to greater levels once he reaches Schmaltz's age. Thompson, Kostin, Thomas...those are lottery picks compared to Schmaltz. How you value prospects will determine where you rank them in comparison to Schmaltz.

 

[MortiestOfMortys]

Defensemen also sometimes just take a really long time to develop. Schmaltz only had two assists in 9 games for the Blues but I thought he looked pretty good in relatively limited ice time (14:20ATOI). He also had a positive impact in terms of shots, and was 2nd on the team in CF%rel behind only Brad Hunt, and got 55% of his shots through. He was on ice for the same number of goals/60 as he was goals against/60, so not great but not a negative impact. So, small sample size of course, but good trends there.

I also don't think it's fair to say anyone is "down" on Schmaltz just because he isn't in the conversation for top 3 prospects. He was #4 last year. I still have faith he'll be a quality addition to our top-6 group, I just don't think he'll contribute all that much offensively. I guess we'll see.

 

[542365]

I'm calling this one. Pretty obvious Walman is our winner. Now the real fun begins. Poll 4 will be up shortly.

 

[Celtic Note]

The more I watch Schmaltz, the more I think he will be Gunnerson'esque. He isn't too aggressive, his defense is ok, and has shown some offense at the lower levels, but I am not sure how much will translate.